Friday, April 15, has another split-slate day of baseball on Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel. Let’s get into the top MLB DFS picks for pitchers and stacks for Yahoo, DraftKings and FanDuel daily fantasy baseball lineups. As always, you can head over to the Awesemo MLB DFS & Fantasy Baseball home page for all the fantasy baseball content you need for any given slate.
MLB DFS Picks Today: Spotlight Pitchers and Top Stacks | Friday, April 15
Yahoo Stack of the Day: New York Yankees at RHP Jordan Lyles — 3.8 implied runs
The Yankees will be a popular stack on Friday with a matchup against journeyman Jordan Lyles. Last year Lyles allowed 38 home runs, which was the most in the league. In his debut last Saturday against Tampa Bay, the 31-year-old was knocked around for five earned runs, allowing three free passes and a round-tripper with only a pair of strikeouts.
Lyles is quite generous to batters from both sides of the plate, allowing a .200 ISO to righties and a .222 ISO to lefties over the last two seasons. The lack of strikeout stuff is a benefit for Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo, who are all threats to send a ball out of Camden Yards. Anthony Rizzo and D.J. LeMahieu are the best pair to round out full stacks. Finally, Josh Donaldson may actually take the bat off his shoulder tonight to swing at some of the meatballs thrown by Lyles.
Evening Slate: Texas Rangers vs. LHP Reid Detmers — 5.0 implied runs
While Reid Detmers did make five appearances last season for Texas, he did not exceed the 50-inning limit and is still considered a rookie. After being the 10th overall selection in the 2020 MLB Draft, the southpaw tore through both Double-A and Triple-A prior to his late-season cup of coffee. Things are, of course, much harder in The Show, where every hitter can turn on even the best fastballs and it is the breaking stuff that differentiates tomato cans and aces.
This year, the Rangers have made some improvements to their offense with the addition of Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Mitch Garver, Kole Calhoun and Brad Miller. While it is unlikely we see the latter two with a lefty starting, the preceding trio is the one to target in this matchup tonight. In their place we are likely to see Andy Ibanez and Charlie Culberson, who both are underrated options against opposite-handed hurlers. Texas can be leveraged as an overlooked secondary stack focusing on two or three hitters. On the evening slate, they are fine as a full stack and a perfect countermove against the field, who will be flocking to the Coors Field Extravaganza.
Late Slate: Houston Astros at LHP Marco Gonzales — 5.0 implied runs
The Houston Astros are no stranger to Marco Gonzales, with a collective triple slash line of .362/.394/.502 against their divisional rival. Now that Gonzales is in his age-30 season, we know that we are getting a pitcher with declining strikeouts and a growing propensity for allowing extra-base hits. Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yulieski Gurriel have thrived against opposite-handed pitching for years. Chas McCormick should be in the lineup tonight as well, providing a salary relief option near the bottom of the order. Lefties Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker are excellent in same-handed matchups, and they continue to be overlooked by unsophisticated gamers.
Spotlight Pitchers
Top MLB DFS Picks Target: LHP Carlos Rodon at Cleveland Guardians — 3.5 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $46 | FanDuel $10,100 | DraftKings $9,800
Tonight Carlos Rodon will be making his second start for San Francisco, though he does draw a matchup with an old foe in Cleveland. Rodon opened the season in style with a dozen strikeouts on just 89 pitches against Miami. The Guardians’ projected lineup has a below-average strikeout rate against southpaws, with the tradeoff being a lack of power. Franmil Reyes, Austin Hedges and Owen Miller do bring plenty of strikeouts along with power. If Rodon can capitalize on that trio and avoid any long at-bats against the do-everything Jose Ramirez and rookie wunderkind Steven Kwan, he should be in line for another top-notch appearance.
Secondary MLB DFS Picks Target: RHP Dylan Cease vs. Tampa Bay Rays — 3.9 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $47 | FanDuel $9,700 | DraftKings $10,200
Once again, Tampa Bay has managed to put together an offense where the sum exceeds the abilities of the individual parts. Even after shipping out Austin Meadows, it still has a plucky lineup that can be calibrated against lefties or righties. Dylan Cease is coming off a phenomenal year where he was seventh in the league with 226 strikeouts and second overall with a 12.3 strikeout-per-nine-innings rate. In his debut, Cease picked up where he left off, striking out eight Tigers on just 79 pitches while closing the book on the fifth inning. Tonight he should be ready for a workload in the mid-80s or even potentially approach 90 pitches.
Wild Card MLB DFS Picks Target: LHP MacKenzie Gore vs. Atlanta Braves — 4.3 implied runs
- DFS Salary: Yahoo $32 | FanDuel $6,400 | DraftKings $5,000
This is far from an easy matchup for a debut, though MacKenzie Gore does come in with a pedigree as the third overall selection in the 2017 MLB Draft. Blake Snell has been placed on the injured list, which has hastened the need for Gore to be called up to The Show. The 23-year-old was solid this spring, and he blanked Triple-A Round Rock on 63 pitches over five innings with seven punchouts on Saturday. There is no need to risk an abbreviated outing from Gore on FanDuel when it is unlikely that he records a quality start. However, at the minimum salary on DraftKings, Gore facilitates nearly every roster construction style with ease.
Final MLB DFS Thoughts for the Friday, April 15 Fantasy Baseball Slate
The games in Cleveland and Chicago warrant monitoring, with a slight precipitation risk in each city. Other outdoor venues will continue to see cooler spring weather tonight with no dramatic wind situations.
